About the site

CesareanRates.com launched February 9, 2012, as a snapshot of online cesarean rate reporting in the United States. The site compiles hospital-level data accessible to the public online, whether reported directly by a state’s department of health or gathered from state hospital association web sites. The site shows marked variation in quality and availability of usable data between states. CesareanRates.com receives no funding and is operated for the benefit of the public.

In November 2017, the site was merged with archived content from The Unnecesarean. Blog posts older than August 8, 2012, originally appeared on the theunnecesarean.com URL.

About Jill Arnold

Jill Arnold is a consultant specializing in consumer engagement in maternity care. An expert on local, state and national data reporting, she manages projects involving the following:

Regional data analysis and reports

How employers can communicate with local hospitals about their maternity data

Editorial content development about choosing a hospital or provider

Social media and employee-facing campaigns on C-sections, VBAC, pregnancy and maternity benefits

She is currently a consultant at Consumer Reports, working with the organization on a grant to develop consumer-facing educational materials with the California Health Care Foundation and California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative. Her campaigns on C-section Ratings and editorial were the second-highest ranked of all Consumer Reports digital content in 2016.

Jill founded and managed The Unnecesarean, a patient advocacy blog about maternity care, informed consent, VBAC access and defensive medicine until 2012. She currently maintains a maternity care-related social media following of more than 60,000. She lives in Bentonville, Arkansas.

New Website Presents Comprehensive Collection of Cesarean Rates Throughout U.S. Hospitals, Yahoo! News, February 2012. [link]

Stakeholder Workgroup Member on the Strategies to Reduce Cesarean Birth Among Low Risk Women project funded by Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and conducted by Vanderbilt Evidence-based Practice Center, 2012. [link]

Consumer delegate at the Home Birth Consensus Summit, October 2011. [link]